*Shimizu Hada's POV:

"What took you guys so long?" Kimberly asked, approaching Gaia, Robin and Beval.

"Sorry, we spent too much time searching for a good sailboat" Robin apologized as she rubbed the back of her head. She looked down at the bags and book bags that Danny was loading into the boat. "I'm guessing you've already gotten our stuff."

"Yes, you took so long we had no choice but to get your things" Kimberly replied, crossing her arms.

I looked at Gaia and Beval. Beval had his head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, and Gaia's eyes were pink, as if she was crying.

"Did something happen?" I asked, a little concerned.

"No! Nothing happened! Let's just go and sail off before someone finds us here," Beval quickly answered as he tossed some of the things into the large navy blue and white sailboat.

"Oh, so now you wanna rush?!" Kimberly scowled at Beval, placing her hands on her hips.

"Hush" Beval responded in annoyance, not making eye contact.

Suddenly, a loud rumble was heard above the night sky.

"It's starting to thunder, we have to leave now" Danny said as he placed the last items into the boat. "Ladies first."

Robin thanked him and jumped into the boat first, followed by Gaia, Katie and Kimberly.

The boat was sort of big, so it didn't wobble as they got on.

"Alright, boys, you next" Danny insisted.

After we hopped on the boat. Danny untied the rope from around the wooden post before jumping in before the boat was able to drift off.

"Is there anything you need help with?" I asked him.

"Yes, make sure all the bags are taken down the stairs and place the items into the cabinets. Place the foods and waters together but place the medicine, weapons and other equipment separate" Danny ordered as he fixed the mainsail and the headsail, trying to make it adjust to the harsh wind.

I nodded and me and the others got to work.

"So, why did we bring weapons again?" Mohammed asked Danny as he picked up a book-bag full of equipment.

"Because you, me and Katie aren't able to protect ourselves. Our powers aren't like Shimizu's or his friend's. We need weapons, they don't. Don't get me wrong, their powers aren't better than your's, it's just that they're able to protect themselves without a weapon. Got it?"

"Sure, I guess" Mohammed shrugged as he made his way towards the downstairs of the sailboat.

"Oh wait, let me turn the lights on first, wouldn't want anyone to fall" Katie said as she ran down the steps pass Mohammed.

"Thanks Katie," I smiled.

"No problem, anything for you" she smiled back at me as she twirled her hair.

"Anything for us you mean?!" Mohammed pouted at Katie, trying to correct her.

"Guys, you're blocking the way, my back is aching and I'm trying to get this over with" Kimberly grumbled. Robin, Beval and Gaia were waiting for us to move also.

All three of us got out of the way.

After I picked up a heavy black plastic bag, I made my way downstairs. The downstairs looked like a living room. The floor was carpet, it had a door that lead to a bathroom and another door that was a closet. The walls were white and some pieces of it were peeling. There were cabinets around the room and a couch to my left. The place even had AC.

The room wasn't that big, but it was large enough for eight people to sleep in and stay inside, comfortably. There was also a radio that was on a stand next to the couch. The place itself was slightly rickety, but livable.

I placed my bag down near a bottom cabinet. I started taking out the waters that were inside and placed them in.

"This place is nice isn't it?" Robin asked me with sarcasm as she placed her stuff down next to me. She opened the cabinet near to mine and placed canned foods inside of it.

"Well it's better than nothing. It could be worse" I replied with a shrug.

"This boat is so dusty. I won't be surprised if I see roaches twerking on the table," Kimberly coughed after opening a dusty cabinet on the opposite side of the room to place medicine inside. The rest of us giggled at her joke.

"Guys, remember what Gaia said; you have to be grateful. We could've been dead by now" I replied.

"Amen to that" Mohammed agreed as he and Katie placed weapons and equipment into the cabinets next to Kimberly.

After we finished organizing and placing everything into the cabinets, I went upstairs and checked to see if we had any more things to bring down. We didn't.

I looked at Danny. He was using his compass as he stood near the mainsail.

"Are you okay?!" I shouted at him. He looked at me.

"Yes I'm alright. Once I'm sure that this baby is heading southwest, I will come down!" he shouted back.

"Okay!"

I went back downstairs. Everyone was sitting in a circle in the middle of the floor.

"Is that everything? No more stuff?" Gaia asked me.

"Yup that's everything" I sighed in relief, brushing off my hands.

"What is Danny doing?!" Robin asked me.

"He is still up there making sure we are going southwest towards the Philippines."

"Why the Philippines?" Mohammed asked before flopping on the couch.

"Vulcan Island is south of the Philippines. If we are heading towards the Philippines then we are going in the right direction" I responded as I sat in next to him.

"So, why don't we celebrate?!" Gaia suggested with jazz hands.

"Celebrate?" Kimberly asked.

"Let's celebrate being alive. We came a long way and we're still here. We are strong, fierce and awesome. We can survive anything. We faced our fears, we took risk, we stayed positive, even if we wanted to give up. We kept going, even though our drama and troubles. That shows how amazing we experi-babies are" Gaia preached as she hugged Kimberly tightly. It freaked Kimberly out, but she didn't push her away.

"Um, okay. Hip hip hooray?," Kimberly responded with confusion and a raised fist.

"YAY!" Gaia squealed with raised arms.

She ran over to the radio and turned it on.

"Oh, I love this song!" Gaia squealed as she started dancing to a pop song.

"Why is she dancing at a time like this?" Kimberly said, face-palming herself.

"What is she doing?" Mohammed asked with a confused stare.

"Dancing, something that she always loved to do" I responded, keeping my eyes on my dancing friend.

The way she moved her body hit every beat of the song. Her coily hair bounced and danced along with her.

"It looks like the Gaia we've known for so long is back" Robin smiled as she elbowed Beval. He made a small smile at Robin in response but kept glancing at Gaia every two to four seconds.

He was acting like me when I first met my friends: shy and timid. Those were two things that Beval was not. I wondered what was up with him.

As we were watching Gaia dance, we heard creaking from the stairs. Danny was coming down.

"Oh, look at what's going on here" Danny said, watching Gaia dance. A small smile formed as he placed his hands on his hips.

"I'm celebrating our victory. We made it so far and we survived to tell the tale. We should totally write a book on this!" Gaia responded before ending her dancing.

"Well don't get your hopes high just yet. We still have a few hurdles to jump over first. After we get pass the killing machines and destroy the W.E.A headquarters, then we can celebrate."

"Well, thanks for ruining my mood" Gaia pouted as she sat down on the floor, in between Katie and Beval.

"Alright, good news: we are now heading southwest, and will be staying in that direction for about a week. The boat is moving moderately fast, which is good. I won't be surprised if we're there in the next five days instead of a week" Danny explained as he stretched before sitting down on the couch.

"So, what are we going to do until then?" Katie asked him.

"Relax, but make sure you don't eat too much food, just enough to keep you alive. I will check three times a day to make sure we are going the right way. We need to calm our nerves a bit before we deal with even more stress. I would just take this time to chill and sleep."

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired myself" Robin yawned as she stretched.

"Same here Rob" Gaia mumbled as she wiped her eyes.

A couple of hours had gone by. It's late at night and the girls are asleep. Me, Danny, Mohammed and Beval were the only ones still awake.

Kimberly slept on the couch. Me, including everyone else laid on the carpet floor, wrapped in a blanket. It was warm, not so cold like it was outside. The slight rocking of the boat was calming and the muffled sound of the waves crashing against it was quite satisfying.

I was laying in between Danny and Mohammed and Mohammed was to the right of Beval.

"Pssst, hey Mizu, Val, Dan, are you guys still up?" Mohammed randomly whispered. "The girls are asleep, so let's talk about boy stuff."

"Huh?" Beval grunted, popping his head up off his pillow in confusion. "What do you mean by "boy stuff?"

"You know; girls, sports, video games, etc." Mohammed replied.

"And by girls, you mean?" I asked him with a cocked eyebrow as I leaned in.

"Are there any girls you guys have eyes on?" Mohammed asked. Silence filled the atmosphere for a moment.

"I-I like Robin," I spoke up with hesitation.

"I knew it" Beval smirked.

"That redhead girl?" Mohammed asked.

"Yes, but don't tell her. I will tell her myself, whenever I'm ready."

"I don't blame you for liking her, she's stunning" Mohammed smiled. "How about you Beval? Are you interested any girl?"

"I'll skip that question" he quickly responded as he turned on his side, facing away from us.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm just tired."

I looked at Mohammed. He was staring intensely at Beval, as if he were using his powers to read his mind, and figure out what was wrong with him.

"And don't even think about using your powers on me" Beval added on, already knowing what Mohammed was up to.

"Oh well. So, how about you Danny? Any girls?" Mohammed proceeded to ask.

A deep sigh came from Danny, he folded his arms behind his head and looked up at the ceiling.

"No, not now. But there was this Latina girl back in elementary and middle school that I use to pick on. I still remember her full name: Isabella Maria Garcia-Hernandez."

Beval sat up and looked at Danny. "Isabella? What school did she go to if I may ask?"

"We both went to Malbrook Elementary/Middle."

"That's my sister. You were the bully that she was so scared of?!"

"Yes, and I know that's your sister, I just didn't say anything to you about it. I felt like there was no need."

"Why did you pick on her? You made my sister run home crying almost every day" Beval asked in a slight tone of curiosity mixed with anger. He placed his elbow on the pillow and rested his head on his hand, ready to listen.

"I picked on her because deep down, I wanted to be her friend. I was popular in school and no one even knew I was an experi-baby. I was fortunate enough to hide my powers, not every experi-baby could do that. Many times, their powers were obvious by a physical trait or if they mistakenly use them. Isabella wasn't an experi-baby, she was a "regular human", but she was unpopular because she was a loner. She stayed to herself and was deemed as a weirdo by everyone. She seemed like such a sweet person. I wanted to talk to her, but to keep myself popular I joined in on the fun of bullying her. Later, I became her main bully. Any chance that I got, I would bully her- just as an excuse to get close to her. I would mainly call her names, but there were times when I shoved her and pulled her hair. It honestly saddened me inside seeing her hurt. I felt like a jerk and I still feel like a jerk. I regret everything I did to her. I still think about her sometimes and wonder how she's doing. She had such a calming voice. Even when she was angry or scared, her voice was still soft and feminine, laid back and gentle. She was about two two grades below me so I could only see her in the hallway or before or after school. Her hair was thick and dark brown. It was in a braid that went down to her lower back. She was into comic books and-"

"Umm, she isn't like that anymore. She is kind of...emo, I guess. She has a lot of piercings on her left ear and a nose piercing. She's about 5"9, taller than the average girl. She dyed her hair with red streaks and her hair length is to her chest now, not her lower back."

"Wow really? Can you please tell me more about her?" Danny asked in awe before moving next to Beval. "What is her personality like now?"

"Well, she is a protective big sister. She is kind at times, but a little sassy. Her best friend is Gaia's older brother, Thomas King. He goes to college in Los Angeles, UCLA. His major is Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering. He also flies planes. He comes to visit from time to time."

"Thomas King? As in "Nervous-wreck-Thomas"? She's best friends with him?!" Danny asked Beval, a little freaked out.

"Yeah? Why would you call him that?"

"He was always so worrisome. He made the top grades and if he got a B- or lower on a test, he would freak out. He was nervous about everything, from girls to grades. That's why me and friends in the neighborhood called him "Nervous-wreck-Thomas". It's not creative, but we still called him that. I never really interacted with him, but I saw him around the way sometimes."

"Oh, that makes sense. He was always a tense guy, even now at eighteen, but from what I can recall, he wasn't even picked on in school" Beval responded, reminiscing into memories. "But don't worry, you can apologize to Isabella once you see her again."

"No point, she won't forgive me" Danny sighed in sadness.

"You don't know that, she might" Beval winked, followed by a deep yawn. "Well, I had enough chitchat. I'm going to sleep now. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

"I'm hitting the hay too, I can barely keep my eyes open" Mohammed claimed as he stretched his arms.

"Oh, okay then. Good talk" Danny said to Beval a little awkward.

"Good talk" he responded.

Thirty minutes went by and the boys were now asleep, except me.

My body was facing the right of the room, and to no surprise, I saw a few roaches crawling on the walls. A little disgusted, I turned over on my back and looked up at the ceiling. To erase my mind of those disgusting critters, I started to daydream.

I daydreamed about what it was like to be a human without powers, to be normal, to be accepted. I wondered if my powers could be passed down genetically if I ever have kids. I wondered if it was possible to surgically remove my powers.

I wondered if we were all going to survive the island and if we were going to go home unharmed, safe and sound in the arms of our parents. I wondered about irrelevant things, like: if I was able to control the part of the ocean and the waves. I even wondered if Noah had already made it to my house safely.

All that excessive thinking tired me even more and caused me to have a hard time keeping my eyes open. I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off into darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I was in San Francisco. I was on the bay shore near the golden gate bridge. I was home, but something was oddly wrong with my city. The golden gate bridge was destroyed, as if it had been bombed. When I looked over at the view of the city, smoke and flames were rising from it into a red, smoking sky. The distant screams of people filled my ears.

Suddenly, my body was moving to downtown.

I saw people screaming and running all over the place. Some were breaking into stores and stealing things. Some were holding on to their dead loved ones, crying and wailing. Buildings were destroyed and debris was all over the ground. Destruction was everywhere. Almost every building was on fire. The unbearable smell of smoke filled my lungs.

"What the hell?" I coughed. I took off my glasses in devastation. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

What had happened?

Suddenly, I heard the roaring sound of airplanes. I looked up at the sky and saw hundreds of army planes flying over us.

Next, a force moved me into an electronic store with many television sets. Only one was on. On this television, the news was on.

The headline said: "America has lost the war, an invasion is coming soon".

I turned up the T.V. to hear what the lady had to say. This news was from Atlanta, Georgia. The lady, whom was a news reporter was crying and struggling to get out words.

"The fatality in America has reached one hundred-fifty million and is quickly climbing. The world itself has lost two billion people. Our World Leader was tragically killed earlier today. Bombs were dropped in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Las Vegas. Those cities are destroyed and have very few survivors. The U.S. department of defense stated that "there are more nuclear bombs and missiles coming our way". Even though we've lost the greatest war in world history, our military are trying their hardest to fight against them."

"Who was them?" I thought to myself.

"Never has anyone seen so much destruction and chaos like this before. God be with us all" the News Reporter said in a shaking voice, trembling as she held her microphone.

Abruptly, a rumbling sound could be heard from the T.V.

I saw the News Reporter quickly look up at the sky to her right, followed by the cameraman turning the camera up towards the sky. It showed a ballistic missile heading towards the city they were in.

It was fast and was only visible for a second before I heard a great "boom".

The camera was moving vigorously, so I couldn't really see what was going on, but I did see a glimpse of a huge ball of fire. That's when I heard a scream from the surrounding people, including the reporter. The T.V. channel then went to static.

"Oh my god" I whimpered as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab me by my shoulders and drag me away. It scared the crap out of me. I was screaming, kicking and trying to get the person to let me go. I looked up at the person, but I couldn't give out any details of who it was. All I saw was a male shadow man with glowing red eyes.

As he was dragging me, the scene around me went from electronic store to a fiery cave with a huge pit of lava and fire. I screamed even louder in fear that he was going to throw me in the pit. I tried hitting him, but my hits just went through him. I yelled at him to let me go, but he ignored me.

When we reached the edge of the pit, he stopped in his tracks. He grabbed me by the back of my shirt and made me stand straight up, next to him.

"Don't you see this?! This is where you will go if you don't prevent this!" the shadow man threatened as he grabbed me by my neck and forced to lean over and look down at the pit. His voice was deep and demonic.

I didn't say anything. I was so scared; I was trembling in fear. I didn't know what to say.

A few seconds of silence between me and the shadow man was broken by him pushing me into the pit of fire and lava. I screamed to the top of my lungs as I was falling. The steam of the lava was getting hotter and hotter.

"Shimizu! Shimizu!" I heard someone say, it was like a huge echo around me as I was falling into the endless pit. I would've reached the lava by now, but it was only getting farther and farther away from me as I was falling.

That's when tiny demon bats surrounded me. They shoved me around and shook me vigorously.

My eyes were closed as I kicked and squirmed, but my body wouldn't allow me to fight back.

"Shimizu! Shimizu!" I heard an echo say again.

A bigger demon bat grabbed my arms and shook them. The other bats disappeared into thin air.

"No! No!" I grunted. The demon bat shook me harder.

"Shimizu, wake up! Wake up! Wake up already!"

I opened my eyes and sat up from off the floor, panting and panicking. Robin was on top of me, holding on to my arms. Gaia was to my left and Beval was to my right. Mohammed, Katie, Kimberly and Danny were crouching down in front of me. Sunlight was shining through from outside into the downstairs room, revealing everyone's concerned faces.

It was all just a dream.